In general, a compressor driven by an engine mounted on a vehicle is a device that compresses a low-pressure refrigerant to a high-pressure refrigerant. The high-pressure refrigerant is transferred to a condenser and then is re-circulated in the compressor via an evaporator to cause air to be cooled.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a compressor and an inlet/outlet pipe are connected to each other in accordance with the prior art.
As shown in FIG. 1, a compressor 3 is configured such that it is connected to an inlet/outlet pipe 5 to allow a compressed refrigerant to be transferred to an air-conditioning system (not shown).
Such a compressor 3 is often installed in close proximity to a vehicle engine to allow a refrigerant to be compressed by a driving force of the engine. In this case, the inlet/outlet pipe 5 is directly coupled to a body of the compressor 3 by a coupling method such as welding or the like. However, this coupling method entails a problem in that it is susceptible to a great vibration caused by the drive of the engine.
In other words, a vibration of the engine and an external relative load, which are transferred to the compressor 3 and the inlet/outlet pipe 5, respectively, act as shearing forces to the connection portion C between the compressor 3 and the inlet/outlet pipe 5. When the external load and the vibration caused by the drive of the engine continue to be accumulated in the connection portion C, damage and deformation of the connection portion C are caused, leading to a problem such as a leakage of the refrigerant. Particularly, this problem becomes more serious when a great working load occurs as in heavy construction equipment and the vibration of the engine is severe.